Kirk creates digital soundscape of European landscape

Jonathon Kirk, assistant professor of music, was co-commissioned with Belgian artist and composer Thomas Smetryns to develop a site-specific digital soundscape for the Klankatlas project sponsored in part by the Belgian Flemish government and Musica Impulscentrum voor Muziek. For the larger project, sound artists were asked to focus specifically on the region of Belgian Limburg.

During their visit to Belgium in July 2011, Kirk and Smetryns incorporated sounds of cyclists, pedestrians, a 17th century trout farm, cows, bells from churches dating from the 13th century, wind and rain from a peaceful village environment along the Belgian Dutch border as elements in their creation. None of the sounds were digitally processed. They used binaural recording techniques and kept the sounds in their raw state as the two edited and produced their work. The work will be showcased as part of a traveling sound installation in Belgium, Holland and Germany.